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Jordan’s Islamists win big in local polls amid voter apathy

An Islamic-led coalition, which had boycotted the previous two elections, scored major gains in Jordan’s recent local elections amid low voter turnout.
A Jordanian woman casts her ballot at a polling station for local and municipal elections in Amman, Jordan, August 15, 2017. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed - RTS1BV1M
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In the run-up to municipal and governorate elections on Aug. 15 in Jordan, expectations for nationwide voter turnout were low. In addition to electing members of more than 100 municipalities across the kingdom, voters were asked to select the members of 12 newly formed governorate councils. The aim of the councils is to decentralize government decisions and empower local representatives to plan and approve projects and services at the governorate level. At the end of the day, only 31% of the 4.1 million eligible voters had cast ballots, with the major urban centers of Amman, Zarqa and Irbid experiencing exceptionally low turnout.

The biggest surprise, however, was the unexpected gains made by Islamists. Running under a broad coalition — the National Alliance for Reform — the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, announced that its candidates had won 76 seats across the kingdom, including the presidency of three municipalities. A prominent IAF figure, Ali Abu al-Sukar, scored a major victory by winning the presidency of the municipal council of Zarqa, Jordan’s second largest city, a largely conservative urban center and a traditional Islamist base.

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